


Anniversary Call

by goddess_of_time_and_magic



Category: Ghost Adventures (TV)
Genre: Anniversary, Crying, Emotional release, Friends to Lovers, Ghost Adventures 10th Anniversary, Love, Lovers To Enemies, Lust, M/M, Phone Call, Sad, implicit sexual content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-02
Updated: 2019-03-02
Packaged: 2019-11-08 05:23:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17975234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goddess_of_time_and_magic/pseuds/goddess_of_time_and_magic
Summary: It's the 10th Anniversary of Ghost Adventures airing on television (October 17, 2008) and Zak decides to call Nick, but it doesn't exactly go as planned.





	Anniversary Call

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be published October 2018, but it was not finished, so references to things haven't been updated to present situations. In October 2018, the Travel Channel had released a promo that had Paranormal Lockdown and Ghosts of Shepherdstown in it. This is what I'm referencing in the beginning paragraph. Enjoy my lovelies! <3

Nick was angry. No, he was more than just angry, he was furious and fucking pissed off like a raging bull. First, the Travel Channel takes  _ his _ footage to use in their promo without his knowledge. Second, his fans were asking questions about the Travel Channel promo and he couldn’t deliver the answer they wanted; he hated not being able to make his fans happy. And third, Zak Bagans was calling him.

It has been almost 5 years since Nick had talked to the man he had called best friend. Even to this day, Nick could remember their last words and Nick walked out of his life. He refused to ever think about Zak again, which he failed at every time he went investigating, thinking he would turn the corner or speak into the walkie-talkie and the older man would be there. He refused to call him, though Nick still had his number in his phone; he deleted Aaron’s, Billy’s, and Jay’s numbers, but he never could bring himself to delete Zak’s. 

Nick stared at his phone, head bent low in his hotel room. Brown eyes gazed up at the time on his phone: 3:00am his time in England, meaning it’s 8:00pm in Vegas. He really should be getting to bed and simply ignore the phone call, but he doesn’t and he isn’t quite sure why. He sighs heavily before hitting answer and placing the call on speaker. He doesn’t want Zak’s voice so close to his ear, so close to his body.

The air is silent and Nick can barely hear Zak’s breathing on the other end. For some reason, emotions are building in Nick’s body to the point of overflow. He can feel the urge to cry, but he doesn’t know why. It might be the stress of everything falling down around him.

“Happy Anniversary.”

Zak is the first to speak.

They’re left in silence again.

Nick pulls down his notification bar on his phone to bring up today’s date: October 2018. 

_ 10 years _ … _ 10 years  _ since Nick and Zak became a common face on television…  _ together _ … how long since they met?

“Why?”

It’s Nick’s first words.

“I…,” Zak pauses. He’s never been very good at words, “Well, I know we aren’t on speaking terms and I’m not here to talk about that and I just wanted to say this because no matter how much I try to avoid it, you were there to. You founded GA and I may not like you anymore for what you’ve done to us… to me… but you have the right to celebrate it too.”

They are silent again. Nick’s blood is boiling and his chest is aching and his head is pounding. 

“Thank you.”

He wants to say Zak’s name, but he can’t bring himself to say those syllables. They sit in his mouth like a lead weight.

“Yeah… so, I guess I’ll leave you to do whatever you’re up to.”

“Okay.”

Nick doesn’t know what is going on with his body.  _ God! _ He needs to cry! It has to be the stress Travel Channel is causing him-- this call included. He feels a tear slide down his cheekbones, making his beard itchy.

“Goodbye.”

“Wait, Za-a-ak--,” his voice cracks as the words slip from his mouth before he can pull them back in and swallow them.

The other side is silent, but Nick can hear a hitch in Zak’s breathing, letting Nick know that their connection is still their. Nick shuts his eyes and lays down on his bed, placing the phone on his chest, the microphone aimed at his mouth so Zak can still hear him.

“What?”

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know.”

Zak sighs in frustration at Nick’s answers, but the younger man notices that he doesn’t hang up. He’s curious, and Nick knows Zak; when Zak is curious, he stays to figure it out. So, Zak waits for Nick to speak.

“Do you remember the creation of the documentary?” 

Nick is quiet before responding carefully, “Yes.”

“How much of it?”

“All of it.”

“You never forgot any of it?”

“Never.”

They return to silence.

“How ‘bout you?” Zak asks.

“Yes. I remember it all. I remember the late nights at my house with you and I remember recording the sound bites in my bathroom with you and I remember almost every phone call you and I made to every producer we could find. I remember how thrilled I was when I made certain sections of it with that old computer of mine. But...I remember how happy-...,” Nick pauses, feeling the weight on his chest lessen, but he is unsure about whether he should continue. He does anyway. They are already broken apart. No use in trying to save any part of their relationship, “I remember how happy I was when I got to show you the little video montages I made and your response to them.”

“They  _ were  _ impressive. I was…,” Zak trails off, “I was proud of you.”

Another moment of silence between them. _ Was _ .

“Would you go back to your younger self and tell him to never have met me?”

“Why would you ask that?” Zak responds quickly.

“Wouldn’t you want to save yourself from the anger we feel toward each other and the questions around us?”

“No.”

Nick’s blood stops simmering at that single word that falls from his cellphone.

“Why?”

“I don’t really have a reason. I just know I wouldn’t.”

Nick signs loudly, raising his arm above him to lay across his eyes. 

“Tell me, Zak, does it still hurt?”

A pause.

“Yes,” the older man responds softly, barely a whisper.

Another pause.

“Does it hurt for you?” Zak asks gently.

“Always.”

“My turn to ask why.”

Nick smiles softly, but no one is there to see it except for the darkness of his room, “Because of what we were. Because of what we had. Because of what we could have been.”

“You’re not talking about as friends are you?”

“Nah.”

_ It was the night after their lockdown, when Nick, Aaron, and Zak got on the quickest airplane and came back to Vegas. They would get in their respected cars and meet at Zak’s house, except this time Aaron didn’t come, as he was heading to see his girlfriend at the time. So, it was just Zak and Nick.  _

_ Nick liked when it was just the two of them sometimes, as he felt he clicked more with Zak than Aaron. He couldn’t really describe it. The two of them just did. Like two sides of the same coin. Like yin and yang. _

_ They had finished watching their movie for the night and Zak offered a drink. He dashed to the kitchen, Gracie following behind her master’s footsteps. Nick watched him go, a small smile on his face. However, something made him get up and follow Zak’s path a few seconds later.  _

_ As he came to the kitchen, he leaned against the kitchen island. Zak came up beside him and Nick watched Zak pour two glasses of scotch. Zak slid the one glass across the counter at Nick, who caught it and brought it up to Zak. _

_ “Cheers! To another great lockdown!” _

_ “Cheers!” Zak smiled brightly and clanged the glass softly against Nick’s own before bringing it up to his lips. He downed the amber liquid in one go, enjoying the burn on his throat and the taste on his tongue. His blue eyes looked at Nick, slowly lowering the glass back to the counter.  _

_ Nick swallowed his drink on one go as well, placing his glass beside Zak’s. His brown eyes swirling in the low light of Zak’s kitchen.  _

_ Nick doesn’t know why, but, slowly, he takes a step forward.  _

_ Their locked gaze unwavering.  _

_ Perhaps he simply is tired, but Nick likes the way Zak’s eyes sparkle with blue topaz and alcohol and the warm pink color of his lips and the sharp shadows on his high cheekbones. Nick’s lips part slightly, letting go of a breath he didn’t know he was holding in. Something is pulling him in and he let’s it.  _

_ Closing the distances, Nick presses his lips gently against the corner of Zak’s mouth. Zak is frozen in his spot, but he isn’t moving away either. Nick slowly moves across Zak’s lips, placing another soft kiss fully on the older man’s mouth. He tastes like scotch and something else that is entirely Zak.  _

_ As Nick thinks this, Zak becomes a little more enticed and begins to respond to Nick’s touch. A hand, suddenly, grips Nick’s hip and it encourages the younger man. Their lips start moving at a calm pace, experimental and gentle and cautious.  _

_ Abruptly, Nick latches his hands onto Zak’s hips and swings them, roughly shoving Zak against the kitchen island; Nick’s lips become harsh and more confident. He can taste Zak on the back of his throat now and he’s craving more. _

_ Nick’s fingers slip under Zak’s shirt, gripping the tanned skin underneath in a bruised grip. Zak angles his head into Nick, lips attacking Nick’s like he is trying to inhale the younger man.  _

_ Suddenly, Nick pulls away. His brown eyes are blown wide from shock and twinkling with lust. Zak stares back at him, head lowered, and his lips are slightly swollen and pink, panting loudly out of his mouth. _

_ “What are we doing?” Nick asks softly, in that voice he uses when he is only talking to Zak. That voice that only Zak knows when they hunt in the dark and it’s just them. So low and soft, an intimacy only they had. _

_ “I don’t know.” _

_ Zak is unsure of his words and Nick can see the older man’s anxiety kicking in as a twinkle of nervousness ascends on Zak’s eyes. Nick responds by stepping back into his spot and closing the distant, softly kissing Zak again, but this time Nick doesn’t stop. _

“I thought we weren’t gonna talk about  _ that  _ night.”

“Well, you could hang up,” when Nick didn’t hear the call end, a smirk appeared on his face, “Told ya so.”

“You’re intolerable.” “So I’ve been told.”

Zak sighed to keep his evident frustration at bay.

“I think the reason why it still hurts is because I still care about you.”

Nick let that sink in. The silence deafening. 

“Same,” Nick replies, more weight lifting off his chest.

“I shouldn’t. I shouldn’t have kissed you that night and I shouldn’t have done more with you that night and I shouldn’t care for you like I do. You hurt me, Nick. You hurt what we created, what  _ you _ created. I’m mad at you! I shouldn’t even be calling you. If Aaron, Jay, or even Billy-- God! Billy! He would hate me more than Aaron and Jay!”

“Like I said before, you could hang up.”

“Please hang up,” Zak begs on the other line.

Nick can hear the tears in his voice and part of him wants to listen to his former best friend, “I don’t want to and neither do you.”

“Why did I call you?” it’s more of a rhetorical question.

“I don’t know,” Nick stares at the ceiling of his hotel room, barely able to see the swirls that make up the stucco, “I don’t know why I answered.”

“Please hang up,” the older man cries and it’s no longer the calm and steady timbered voice that Nick knew but actually a tear-filled voice. Zak is crying, “Please hang up. Please hang up.”

Nick picks the phone off his chest and leans onto his side on the bed, propping his head up on his arm, and placing the phone on the bed between his arm and his chest. His fingertips lightly brushed over the edges of the phone. He’s imaging skin instead of cold plastic and metal and a body beside his on the bed. 

“Please hang up. Please hang up. Please hang up,” Zak whimpers between his tears. 

His arms goes numb and Nick lays his head down on his arm, resting it on the pillow. His brown eyes stare at the phone, listening to the sounds of Zak’s crying. 

Why isn’t he hanging up?

A voice responds from inside him,  _ ‘You miss him. You are craving him. You want him again. Don’t deny it.’ _

“Please hang up. Please hang up. Please hang up,” Zak’s voice lowers to a whisper now. He stopped crying, but the warm and wet sound of his voice echoes in Nick’s ear drums.

_ ‘Don’t deny it.’ _

He shuts his eyes and he sighs. 

“Please hang up. Please hang up…,” Zak’s voice disappears and Nick is lost to sleep, lulled into slumber by it. 

_ ‘Don’t deny it.’ _

[-][-][-][-][-]

It is the next morning and Nick wakes up, stretching his taunt limbs. He groans as he sleepily opens his eyes, brown iris’ blown wide from sleep. He lets go of the breath he was holding. His eyes settled on the empty table and pair of chairs sitting in the corner of his room. For some reason he is drawn to it, more so than when he first arrived into the hotel room. 

What is so fascinating about a table and a pair of chairs settled in a corner alone?

Suddenly, the events of last night come rolling back across his mind and Nick looks down at the phone next to him on bed. Turning it on, he sees that his call with Zak is still going and Nick’s heart is hammering in his chest, but there is just completely silence on the other line. 

Pausing for a few moments, Nick thinks and listens, wondering if he can hear Zak’s gentle snoring if he brought the phone up to his ear. 

He never finds out. 

He presses “END CALL.”

  
  
  



End file.
